Hazlewood, Lee - The N.S.V.I.P.'s lp (1972)

$25.99

"Lee Hazlewood’s partnership with Reprise Records in the 1960s resulted
in timeless hits for Dean Martin and Nancy Sinatra. Throughout the
decade, though, the label also released three of the artist’s most
highly regarded solo works: The N.S.V.I.P.’s, Friday’s Child and Love
and Other Crimes. Hazlewood’s 1964 sophomore
album The N.S.V.I.P.’s (Not So Very Important People) is the perfect
companion to his classic debut, Trouble Is a Lonesome Town, released the
year prior. Setting his signature spoken intros to a new cast of small
town eccentrics (perhaps modeled on his childhood locale in Mannford,
Oklahoma), this early career high-point presents Hazlewood with all of
his singular assets already intact: playful lyrics veering toward the
bizarre, wry delivery and wonderfully understated pop-country song
craft.“First Street Blues” opens The
N.S.V.I.P.’s with the saga of Leroy, the once-irascible dragon who
converts to a cheerful wino. The small-town drunkard’s likely story
merges with fantastic whimsy in Hazlewood’s strange world. Elsewhere, he
waxes absurd on “I Had a Friend” about Tarzan’s deficiencies as a
citizen and marital prospect for Jane. He even imparts some simple
wisdom about the presidential election on “Save Your Vote for Clarence
Mudd.” As always, Hazlewood’s tongue is firmly rooted in cheek. Still,
it’s easy to just forget that and live inside the poignant songs he
creates for each and every one of the not so very important, but
absolutely riveting, people—and dragons, too." - 1972